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Chromecast Rooted

forum.xda-developers.com

31–40 of 108 posts

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#31
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$35 and let's me use my phone as my remote for Netflix, HBO Go, and Hulu. Drop dead simple casting. Also it doesn't stream from the phone; it simply takes in commands so it might save your battery some.

Phones are poor remotes.

I used to feel the same way.

Then, I gave away my Apple TV and bought a Chromecast. Searching for content.. jumping between content sources.. it's all easier on the phone.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#32
post #8
post #2

Sorry for being stupid but what effect does this have on a regular chromecast?

Not stupid at all; that should be the first question anyone asks. As far as I know, the Chromecast doesn't allow for discovering & streaming files via DLNA/UPnP. That feature alone is worth the rooting even if I "lost"[1] Netflix & Youtube support. 1. "Lost" is relative for a device that cost $35. I could just... buy another one.

as an alternative to plex like the other guy mentioned, i'm using videostream to watch the new godzilla film on my chromecast right now http://www.getvideostream.com/

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#33
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$35 and let's me use my phone as my remote for Netflix, HBO Go, and Hulu. Drop dead simple casting. Also it doesn't stream from the phone; it simply takes in commands so it might save your battery some.

Phones are poor remotes.

Compared to what? The big thing I like about phones as remotes is that its the same device. I don't need a tv remote / dvd etc

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#35

Does anybody know anything more than I about what this will enable (now)? Or is this just the first step of many in creating a hacker community around the Chromecast and software is to come? I've got one, and I'd love to make better use of it, or even help develop some stuff for it if it's that time :)

For me, it's a modified home screen.

If I get around to it I am going to port a dashboard I built for the chromecast to act as the normal home screen.

The problem with how it works now is you would manually have to re-cast the dashboard when you turn it on, or after you were done casting anything else. I did that for the first day, but after that it just didn't really seem to be as worthwhile.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#36

35 dollars for an android device that can now be turned into an XBMC device with netflix.... I think I may give the chromecast a second swing...

You can find them even cheaper (~$30).

Hackability is just icing on the cake.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#37

35 dollars for an android device that can now be turned into an XBMC device with netflix.... I think I may give the chromecast a second swing...

For those who don't know (as I didn't) XBMC[1] is an open-source media center/entertainment application that supports a variety of OSes, including Android. And, apparently, the project is going to be renamed "Kodi" in the near future.

[1] http://xbmc.org/about/

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#39

Anyone having a Chromecast and able to tell me what I'm missing? Currently I've got xbmc running on a Raspberry Pi. Connected via HDMI, online via wifi and I can stream more or less everything (videos, images, music) from my phone to that thing - not sure if there's a decent way to do that from my laptop running Linux. What are Chromecasts used for? Should I buy one?

xbmc is terrible on a Raspberri Pi, it's way too slow.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#40
post #39

Anyone having a Chromecast and able to tell me what I'm missing? Currently I've got xbmc running on a Raspberry Pi. Connected via HDMI, online via wifi and I can stream more or less everything (videos, images, music) from my phone to that thing - not sure if there's a decent way to do that from my laptop running Linux. What are Chromecasts used for? Should I buy one?

xbmc is terrible on a Raspberri Pi, it's way too slow.

It's greatly improved with XBMC 13.0+, which included a bunch of optimizations to make XBMC on the RPi more bearable. Go through the XBMC Raspberry Pi wiki page to turn off things that waste CPU (like the RSS ticker). It also helps to use rpi-config and select the modest overclocking option (the one that doesn't change any voltages). XBMC is very smooth after doing those things.

The only issue I still have is that the wifi dongle I attached to the RPi can only pull 10Mb/s. I hear this is due to lack of power provided by the RPi to its USB ports and that it can be mitigated by using a powered USB hub, but I haven't tried that yet. 10Mb/s is enough to stream SD and some HD, but not all HD. I've tweaked the buffering settings to make this a little more bearable but honestly I usually end up transcoding a lower-bitrate version for the RPi to stream, which is a pain without a UPnP server to do that transparently.

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